Mission Delhi – Berenice Ellena, Jangpura General Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - December 14, 2009September 19, 20148 One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] When sad, Berenice Ellena locks herself in her Jangpura apartment and listens to flamenco songs, Portuguese lamentations or nostalgic Brazilian music. “I love the sound of these languages,” the Frenchwoman says. “They are like a cuddle.” Born in Bordeaux, the famous wine region in France, Ms Ellena has been in Delhi for two years, creating European designs out of Indian fabrics. She first took a house in Nizamuddin West, a neighbourhood popular with foreigners. “In Paris, there are different areas, which are like villages with distinct personalities,” says Ms Ellena, “and Nizamuddin West is like that.” In the evenings, she would walk around the streets of Nizamuddin
Madrid Confessions – What I Really Did Travel by The Delhi Walla - December 13, 2009May 23, 20104 Schmap Madrid Guide has liked The Delhi Walla. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] [One of the several photos taken by The Delhi Walla has been selected for inclusion in the ninth edition of Schmap Madrid Guide. Click here to see that picture] Never before been out of India but having grown with Tolstoy, Bach and Vermeer, I considered myself a brown European with Proustian sensibilities. In September, 2009, I finally went to the ‘mother continent’, not on an extensive tour, but for a weeklong getaway in Madrid. (You may read and find links to The Delhi Walla's entire Madrid Diary here). I wasn’t excited. I feel for Paris and Vienna. On the map, Madrid is closer to Morocco than Moscow. Besides,
Dateline GB Road – Sex Workers Want License General by The Delhi Walla - December 11, 2009May 23, 20107 Delhi’s red light district is hopeful. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] GB Road, Delhi’s red light district, is all gratitude to the Indian Supreme Court. “We are so happy,” says Ms Nasreen, a sex worker. On December 9th, 2009, a two-judge bench in the court asked the government whether it could legalize prostitution if it couldn’t curb it. Immediately afterwards, the kothas (establishments) were abuzz with what might happen next. “If we get licenses, then we’ll have ration cards,” says sex worker Ms Babita, “and we can also save ourselves from being exploited by lawyers, kotha owners, pimps, money-lenders, and women traffickers.” A substantial portion of the earnings of the mostly illiterate women in GB Road is spent in legal hassles.
Mission Delhi – Muhammad Salim, Mathura Road Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - December 7, 2009March 3, 20163 One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is holding onto the rear bumper of a fast moving auto, the wheels of his low-floor improvised wooden trolley making a clattering noise on the potholed street. The auto is turning left towards Oberoi Hotel flyover. Letting it go, he is steering the trolley across Mathura Road, maneuvering it by hands. The cars and scooters are not slowing down to give him way. A blueline bus misses him just in time. How much of the world the 18-year-old Muhamamd Salim would have seen if the polio had not destroyed his legs? Three days ago he boarded Dakshin Express from Jhansi, his hometown in Uttar Pradesh state,
Mission Delhi – One Percent in 13 Million Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - December 5, 2009November 23, 201718 Cracking the city. [Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi] You don’t understand a city by its buildings and bazaars, but by its people. That's why you can’t take in the entire Delhi in one lifetime - we have 13 million souls here. The Delhi Walla plans to make portraits of one per cent of this 8-digit figure, that is 1, 30, 000 Delhiwallas. Each portrait will have a photograph of the person along with a peek into his life. By the time I finish the project (just assuming), the looks and the lives of most people I will photograph and profile is bound to change. You may wonder then, what is the point? People are not ruins. They evolve over the years. Trying to